Liberation of Belgium

The Liberation of Belgium took place from 2 September 1944 to 4 February 1945 during World War II. The liberation was carried out primarily by Canadian, British, and American forces, with help from the Polish Armed Forces in the West and Belgian resistance forces, and it was carried out rather quickly; the Germans briefly halted the liberation with their Ardennes offensive, but Belgium was clear of German troops by February 1945.

On 21 August 1944, Allied supreme commander Dwight D. Eisenhower gave instructions for Omar Bradley's 12th Army Group to drive towards the France-Germany border as Bernard Montgomery's 21st Army Group advanced into Belgium. On 2 September 1944, the Allies reached the Belgian border after advancing from the Seine, and the Canadians advanced along the English Channel coast to secure its ports as the British Second Army launched a lightning thrust with the US First Army covering its right flank. On 3 September 1944, the British Second Army liberated the Belgian capital of Brussels, and the US First Army captured Tournai that same day. However, there was a penalty to be paid for the rapid Allied advances. The Allies suffered from stretched supply lines, as the French port Cherbourg was their nearest supply base, the railroads were damaged too badly damaged to be used, and resupply by air was limited due to the fact that most transport planes had been allocated to the airborne forces. Every available truck had been pressed into service to bring up fuel to the forward supply depots, and they consumed more and more fuel as the Allied lines moved further away from Normandy. The failure of the Canadians to capture the Channel ports of Brest and L'Orient led to Montgomery drafting another plan: the capture of Antwerp.

The British 11th Armored Division's tanks entered Antwerp on 4 September 1944, taking the German defenders by surprise; the Germans had no time to sabotage the docks, leaving the vital port in British hands. However, the port was useless unless the Scheldt River, which linked it to the sea, was secured. Montgomery was looking eastward rather than westward, and the opportunity was missed. Thus, by the end of the first week of September, the Allied advance ground to a virtual halt, as the fuel tanks were almost dry. The Germans were able to regroup as the Allies faced a grave supply problem, and Montgomery drafted a plan to maintain the Allied momentum and end the war in 1944. The plan, Operation Market Garden, saw the British XXX Corps advance into the Netherlands from the Belgian border to assist airborne forces in capturing and holding the towns of Grave, Eindhoven, and Arnhem, but the XXX Corps was delayed in its advance, and the American forces failed to relieve the British defenders of Arnhem, who were ultimately forced to surrender in a military embarassment.

With the failure of Market Garden, Montgomery and Eisenhower planned out their next moves. Courtney Hodges' US First Army began to penetrate the Siegfried Line, while George S. Patton's US Third Army had reached the Moselle and linked up with the US Seventh Army and the First French Army. The Canadians succeeded in besieging several Channel ports, and all of them, aside from Dunkirk, eventually fell. Montgomery proceeded to send the Canadians to clear the Scheldt estuary so that Antwerp could be opened, and the British Second Army was sent to enlarge the salient into the Netherlands that had been created by Market Garden. In mid-October 1944, Eisenhower ordered Montgomery to continue to clear the Scheldt and, once Antwerp had been opened, advance from the Maas to the Rhine; Omar Bradley was to advance to the Rhine at Cologne; and Devers was to close up to the Rhine via the Belfort Gap. The Americans advancing on Cologne found themselves in tough fighting at Aachen and the Huertgen Forest, while Patton reached the Saar River and Devers battled an obstinate German pocket at Colmar as he reached the Rhine. In the north, the Canadians cleared both sides of the Scheldt, and amphibious landings took place on Walcheren island at the mouth of the Scheldt on 1 November 1944. A week later, the Scheldt was secured, and the river was swept of mines and the first supply ships arrived at Antwerp on 26 November, easing the supply situation. The capture of Zeebrugge on 2 November 1944 eliminated the last pocket of German resistance in Belgium, but the Germans unleashed a new offensive through the Ardennes in December 1944, bringing the battle back to Belgium at places such as Bastogne, Foy, and St. Vith. The ensuing "Battle of the Bulge" lasted until January 1945, when the Allies, despite suffering heavy losses, repulsed the Germans and permanently destroyed their offensive capabilities on the Western Front. As of 4 February 1945, Belgium was free of German forces, and the Belgian government returned from exile.